Today could be summed up with one word: kids! We were able to join with another team today from Maryland who planned a kids day from one of their partner churches in Managua. So we loaded up early on the bus and headed out to pick them up. It took our bus plus 2 others to transport over 100 kids and leaders out to Ruby Ranch. It was hard to describe the look on their faces when they stepped off…
We’re back! It feels so good to type those words. We loved our time in Guatemala last year but we were so excited when God opened the door for us to return here to Nicaragua. For many, Nicaragua is where their heart was first pricked for advancing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. It’s where relationships were born and now forged over 15 years of ministry. And it’s where we have an extended family in the Open…
Well, after our special send off and our ‘see you laters’ we did our best to get some rest, knowing our wake up call would be early… like 3:30 am early. We had to be up and loaded at 4 am to head back to Guatemala City. That’s just how traffic rolls in third world countries. Thankfully the journey went a little faster on the way back into the city than we when arrived and travelled out. I’m sure being…
Today was our last full day on mission here in Guatemala which always makes it pretty emotional and bittersweet. Our initial plans to host a fun day at camp for both groups ended up getting changed a bit… which on mission, you learn to roll with it. Instead, the leaders here planned a half day of fun for our team to rest and recoup. We loaded up the truck as they told us we were headed to a waterfall and…
You can tell where we are on this mission based on how slowly we all walk down the stairs from our room to the truck in the morning. Based on today’s walk, you can tell we are nearing the end of this mission here in Guatemala. Our spirits and hearts are full, but our body is most certainly pretty weak and exhausted at times. The days are full and the evenings are focused and at times intense. But we press…
The Lord continues to amaze us in His beauty of His creation down here, the joy and laughter of the kids at camp and even all the blood, sweat and tears (and there has been all three) that has gone into our construction project. And our individual time and team time with the Lord has been challenging and rewarding. God doesn’t always show up in the ways we hope or even expect but we most certainly can say that He…
Well, today we settled in to our regular routine which involves a half-day of construction in the morning and then camp in the afternoon. Although, this morning started with a literal bang to celebrate one of our team member’s birthday during breakfast. Apparently the Guatemalan tradition is to light off some fireworks first thing to celebrate and they were shockingly loud! But that got our day going for sure! We loaded up and got right to work at the site…
Today was a different day for us that was full of new experiences. Since the team has been pushing pretty hard, we were able to have an extra hour of rest this morning before heading down to the ministry center for breakfast and morning devotions. We started our day with a bit of camp prep since today was our first day of camp with the Limones kids. Our team has not only been doing mission training all summer long, where…
Today I woke up thinking about our church family worshipping back at Wildwood, our Mission Atlanta team worshipping and serving in Atlanta and the fact that we are here serving (and the actual worship service came later) here in Guatemala. So, we started our day after our breakfast and morning devotionals by heading out to work. We divided out a few to form another team that tackled a few projects at the ministry center. One was a lighting project and…
Since today was Saturday, we were scheduled to work construction only a half-day, but that meant and even earlier start to the day so we could get a good amount of work in. It is pretty amazing how hard this team is working – on their summer break – and considering we were up and ready by 6:30am (Note to parents: they are obviously capable and willing – Ha!). So we did hit the ground running when we arrived at…